Finally got to Smith Mountain Lake today mainly to do some work on and around camper. Spent about an hour on the docs fishing, trying out ne Abu Garcia Black Max and Plfueger Trion. Nothing not even a bite, tried about everything i own. Must be doing a lot wrong!! Any advice?

buy more tackle!  duhh!

They have not moved up from their staging areas.

 

Wait for the Dogwoods to bloom for them to be on their nests and the water temps to go over 65*.

 

The bass will run to the shoreline to feed and then retreat back to the depths so try parallel to the bank until the water starts to warm.

I've been struggling lately too. For me, I usually have a hard time during these seasonal transition periods. Just keep your head up and try again soon is the best I can say. Only takes one good bite to get your confidence back.

Look at my report in the reports section that should say something it was horrible yesterday cold wind and snow did I mention it was windy

Tight lines

Andrew

That´s why it´s called fishing kemosabe and not called catching.

That´s why it´s called fishing kemosabe and not called catching.

 

Long live the Lone Ranger 

It's tough for just about everyone not near the equator right now but confining oneself to the docks will make it toughter still.  This cold winter has probably kept them from staging-let alone moving shallow to spawn.

Hope to get back this weekend. Yeah I walked to the bank and played around there to. The Mgr of the Campground said people had been pulling small and large mouth out from under docks. It was a bad time of day was about 2pm. Tried various plastics Carolina Rigged, tried a few crankbaits, spinners, and jigs. Oh well all I can do is keep casting. I did catch a dock and a leaffish, lol! Either way it was great just to be out and have a line in the water

The Mgr of the Campground said people had been pulling small and large mouth out from under docks.

 

Were you flipping/pitching underneath the cover of the docks?  That's almost impossible when you are on one, unless you were at the boat slips.  For all the baits you mentioned except a jib, I wonder if you were fishing away from them.

I was at the boat slips very few boats were there. I am trying to learn to skip under the docks. I was also cast down and reeling in by the dock